I was out in the yard this weekend and I noticed that I wasn't the only one harvesting. I was picking cucumbers and beans and apples, yes. But I wasn't the only one.
Bees of all kinds were harvesting nectar and pollen from the sunflowers, the sedum, the native buckwheats, and the squash blossoms. The hummingbirds were getting nectar from the california fuchsia and the penstemon. The bushtits (those little birds that travel in flocks that I call "peep birds") were harvesting bugs. Many of the apples I picked off the ground had been taste tested by birds, and there were empty shells of apple and orange peels that I think are the mark of rodent (rat?) feasting. Doves are harvesting the poppy seeds from the poppy field. The chickens were harvesting bugs from the ground and have been feasting on broccoli leaves that I pick for them each morning. Leaf cutter bees are harvesting pieces of bean leaves and wasps are trolling the bean plants for prey. Then I harvested compost from one of the compost bins and noticed how many worms and sowbugs were feeding on the compost.
Wow! I'm not just growing plants here...I'm feeding an ecosystem!
1 comment:
Aren't we lucky to be able to observe all of this in our own backyards.I could sit for hours....oh wait that's what I do!
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